conlangfandomcom-20200223-history
Vikti
Vikti (ciol Vikti ''/ciɑl vikti/) is an agglutinative personal loglang of an unspecified language family. Phonology Consonants The full phonetic inventory of Vikti is the result of Proto-Vikti's original consonant inventory having been shaped overtime by strong allophonic influences of succeeding vowels within a syllable. Proto-Vikti possesses a markedly small inventory of consonants. Proto-Vikti Consonant Inventory Proto-Vikti (''miqta na kior /mʱiʔta nʱa kiɒr/) underwent numerous sound changes based on syllabic boundaries and vocalic influence. :/mʱ/ => /v/ :/nʱ/ => /z/ :/r/ => /ɾ/ :/r/ => /s~ɕ-h/ in initial positions :/r/ => /l/ in final positions :/ʔ/ => /s~ɕ~h/ in initial positions :/ʔ/ => /k/ in final positions :/h/ => /s/ in final positions Standard Vikti Consonant Inventory #/p/ becomes /pʷ/ before back vowels /ʊ, ɔ/ #/v/ becomes /vʷ/ before back vowels /ʊ, ɔ/ #/n/ becomes /ɳ/ before retroflex consonants #/n/ becomes /ɲ/ before palatal consonants #/n/ becomes /ŋ/ before velar /k/ #/t/ becomes /ʈ/ before back vowels /ɯ, ɑ/ #/z/ becomes /d͡z/ before back vowels /ɯ, ɑ/ #/z/ becomes /d͡ʑ/ before /i/ #/ɾ/ becomes /ɽ/ before back vowels /ɯ, ɑ/ #/l/ becomes /ɭ/ before retroflex consonants #/k/ becomes /c/ before /i/ #/h/ becomes /s/ before /ɯ/ #/h/ becomes /ɕ/ before /i/ Vowels #/ɯ/ is rounded to /ʊ/ following labial /pʷ, vʷ/ and glottal stop /ʔ/ #/ɑ/ is rounded to /ɔ/ following labial /pʷ, vʷ/ and glottal stop /ʔ/ Sound Changes from Proto-Vikti In addition to the aforementioned changes from Proto-Vikti to Standard Vikti based on syllabic boundaries and vocalic influence, other notable sound changes occured that had their own impact on not only the phonological aspects of the language, but the morphological and syntactic structure as well. *In many cases, instances of /n~nʱ/ were lenited to /i/, often affecting surrounding consonants and vowels **''himanah /himʱanʱah/ "horse" => ''xivais ''/ɕivæis/ **''kunirunu /kunʱirunʱu/ "to break" => coirru /kɑiɽɯ/ **''manha na'' /mʱanhɒ nʱa/ "perfect" => vixi ''/viɕi/ *Similarly, /m~mʱ/ became lenited to /u/ **''pompoq /pɒmpɒʔ/ "bush" => pupok /pʷʊpʷɔk/ **''kiminu'' /kimʱinʱu/ "to dry" => ciu'iu /ciɯʔiɯ/ **''omirioh na /ɒmʱiriɒh nʱa/ "lethargic" => ''uorroxi ''/ɯɑɽɑɕi/ *Cluster /pt/ sometimes experienced lenition to /mz/. **''hiapta /hiapta/ "leaf" => ximza /ɕimzæ/ **''huptor'' /huptɒr/ "axel" => sumdzol ''/sɯmd͡zɑl/ **q''upta na /ʔupta nʱa/ "strong" =>'' sumji /sɯmd͡ʑi/ *Instances of /r/ sometimes caused fronting of preceding back vowels /u, ɑ/. **''qor /ʔɒr/ "arm" => hal /hæl/ **''murot'' /mʱurɒt/ "moose" => virrot /viɽɑt/ **''niormia'' /nʱuɒrmʱia/ "snake" => Jiarruva /d͡ʑiæɽɯvæ/ "serpent god Jiarruva" *Clusters /rp, rk, rʔ/ sometimes underwent alveolar assimilation to /lt/ **''parpa'' /parpa/ "fish" => palta ''/pæltæ/ **''markono /mʱarkɒnʱɒ/ "carriage" => valtio ''/væltiɑ/ "vehicle" **''porquo /pɒrʔuɒ/ "trail" => paltto /pæɭʈɑ/ Stress Primary lexical stress depends largely on the part of speech and the role of a word in a sentence. Possible stress patterns in Vikti words are null, initial, penultimate, ultimate stress. Null Stress Single-syllable words, pronouns, and conjunctions receive no primary stress on a syllable. Initial Stress Subjects and direct objects receive inital primary stress a syllable. Penultimate Stress Adjectives, adverbs, and any nouns with two-syllable case suffixes receive penultimate primary stress on a syllable. Ultimate Stress Verbs and any nouns with single-syllable case suffixes receive ultimate primary stress on a syllable Phonotactics Vikti syllables follow a ©V© syllable structure, where: *Onset © includes any consonants besides nasals /m, n/ or lateral approximate /l/ *V is any vowel *Coda © includes any consonants besides voiced fricatives /v, z/, approximate /r/, or glottal sounds /ʔ, h/ Loan words, for example have trouble retaining phonetic integrity when translated into Vikti. Take the following words and names for example, which may maintain this integrity following strictly the phonetic inventory of Vikti, but when confronted with Vikti phonotactics become incorrect constructions. Possible ©V© syllable constituents are presented below: Additionally, a given word in Vikti cannot begin in /ɾ/-initial or /ʔ/-initial syllables. While these restrictions did not exist in Proto-Vikti, Standard Vikti affricated initial instances of both phonemes to /s~ɕ~h/. Therefore, Proto-Vikti productions like ramu ''/ramʱu/ "to love" and ''qimarta /ʔimʱarta/ "structure" became havu /hævʷʊ/ and xivalta /ɕivæltæ/, respectively. Lastly, doubling of a given consonant cannot occur in medial positions. This is especially salient when suffixes are employed. For voiceless stops and /s~ɕ~h/, the preceding coda remains and the following initial becomes /ʔ/. For nasals and their corresponding voiced ficative/affricates, the coda remains and the initial becomes /ɾ~ɽ/. For liquids, the coda is deleted and the following initial remains. Orthography Standarization of the Romanized Vikti alphabet (alhavita Hovatinjivit Vikti /ælhævitæ hɑvætiɲd͡ʑivit vikti/) took into consideration the allophonic influence of vowels on consonants, resulting is the following alphabet. Standard Latin letters B, E, F, G, Q, W, and Y are not used in the Romanizated Vikti alphabet. The letter D is used only in the digraph dz. Morphology Nouns Vikti nouns are declined according to number, person, and case. Aside from unmarked singular number, nominative case, and accusative case, all nouns receive declensions by suffixing. In instances where multiple suffixes are applied, the morpheme heirarchy is stem>number>person>case. For any suffix, phonotactic rules are subsequently applied. Plural suffixes employ a reduplication system of the last two sounds. If an unmarked noun ends in a vowel and it's suffix begins with a vowel, the glottal stop is placed in between. Personal markers employ the addition of respective suffixes to the end of a noun. For singular personal suffixes, nouns that already end in a consonant reduplicate the preceding vowel. Vikti has 14 marked cases. In addition to standard suffixing, the vocative case implements a preceding particle ho as well as capitalization of the noun. Both nominative and accusative nouns are unmarked by case suffixes, however they are differentiated by word order. Verbs Vikti verbs can be conjugated according to voice aspect, mood, tense, and person & number. Unmarked verbs represent the simple, active infinitive and are easily recognizable from their ''-u'' syllable endings. Bound verbal morphems include both prefixes and suffixes. In instances where multiple morphemes are applied to the stem, the heirarchy is mood>aspect>voice>stem>tense>person & number. There are three marked verbal moods in Vikti: imperative, conditional, and optative. They are marked by the following prefixes: Unmarked verbs in Vikti take a simple aspect that can be interpreted broadly by speakers and listeners alike, or with specificity given other contextual words. More specific verbal aspects can be marked and include perfect and imperfective forms. Passive voice in Vikti verbs are marked by the prefix vai-. Tense is marked by the use of a suffix. Present verb forms are unmarked, but past and future are marked as follows: Person and number are marked according to the subject of the sentence and operate in the same way as personal suffix markers in nouns. Semantics Pronouns Personal Pronouns See /Personal Pronouns Reflexive Pronouns Demonstrative Pronouns Interrogative Pronouns Indefinite Pronouns Syntax Sentences are typically subject-object-verb (SOV). The placements of the subject and object of a sentence are the most crucial to its meaning, as the nouns go unmarked by true case suffixes. A verb, however, can be moved to the front of a sentence for emphasis without changing the meaning of a sentence. Adjectives almost always follow the noun(s) that they modify. Declined nouns aside from the nominative and accusative depend on their relation to the other words in the sentence. Pragmatics